Interval signal Totally Explained

Everything about Interval Signal totally explained

An interval signal, or tuning signal, is a characteristic sound or musical phrase used in international broadcasting and by some domestic broadcasters. Played before commencement or during breaks in transmission, or (most commonly) between programmes in different languages it serves several purposes:* It assists a listener to tune his or her radio to the correct frequency for the station.

It informs other stations that the frequency is in use.
It serves as a station identifier even if the language used in the subsequent broadcast isn't one the listener understands.

The practice began in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s and was carried over into shortwave broadcasts. The use of interval signals has declined with the advent of digital tuning systems, but hasn't vanished.

Broadcasting services and interval signals

BBC World Service in English: Bow Bells

BBC World Service in English (occasionally): Lillibullero

BBC World Service, non-English, non-Europe: Three even notes tuned B-B-C

BBC World Service, non-English, to Europe: four notes tuned B-B-B-E, spaced to spell out V in Morse code

China Radio International: Chime version of March of the Volunteers

Deutsche Welle Radio: Chimes from Beethoven's Fidelio

Radio Serbia: national anthem "Bože pravde"

Radio Australia: Chorus of Waltzing Matilda on chimes

Radio Canada International: First four notes of O Canada played on a piano

Radio France Internationale: Electronic-disco, culminating in the last 8 measures of La Marseillaise

Radio Japan (NHK World): Kazoe-uta ("Counting song")

Radio Netherlands: Chime version of the Eighty Years' War song "Merck toch hoe sterck"

Radio New Zealand International: the call of a New Zealand Bellbird, a distinctive sounding NZ bird species, repeated every 3 minutes

Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI): "Rayuan Pulau Kelapa", composed by Ismail Marzuki.

RTÉ Radio 1:O'Donnell Abú (External Link

)

Radio Slovenia: The European Common Cuckoo, electronically generated

Vatican Radio uses the chimes of the clock in St. Peter's Square, Rome, followed by the Papal fanfare

Voice of America: Yankee Doodle played by a brass band

Voice of Korea: Melody of the song of president Kim Il Sung

Voice of Russia: Chime version of "Majestic" chorus from the "Great Gate of Kiev" portion of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition

Radio Moscow (former service of the Soviet Union): Moscow Nights or Midnight in Moscow

Numbers stations interval signals

Numbers stations are often named after their interval signals, such as The Lincolnshire Poacher or Magnetic Fields after "Magnetic Fields Part 1" by Jean Michel Jarre.

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